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Valentines Cursive Alphabet Uppercase and Lowercase Activity

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Valentine uppercase and lowercase cursive activity

This post includes a FREE download of the Valentine Cursive Alphabet Uppercase and Lowercase printable. Start here with understanding how to teach cursive…then check out this post on which cursive letters to teach first. Then use the free cursive letters printable at the bottom of this page to work on cursive letter writing with a Valentine’s Day theme! This is a great activity to incorporate into your Valentines Day occupational therapy activities.

Another great free resource is our printable Valentine’s Day cards and our newest printable, Valentines Day I Spy. Add both along with the Cursive letter activity below for a whole theme of skill development.

This cursive alphabet uppercase and lowercase activity has a Valentine's Day theme, but the cursive letter cards can be used any time to year to work on cursive handwriting.

Cursive Alphabet Upper Case and Lower Case Activity

Because of the importance of cursive writing, the OT Toolbox has included cursive alphabet worksheets in it’s “Toolbox”.  This uppercase and lowercase Valentines printable alphabet PDF is a great learning tool for beginning to recognize the letters.

In recent years there has been a lot of back and forth opinions about the validity and necessity of writing cursive.  Some of the people creating school curricula feel this is an old language since it is not used in books any more, and most written expression is done on keyboards.  While there is the argument that people only need cursive for signing their signature, and it should be abolished, cursive is so much more important than just a signature on a page. This article from the New York Times debates reasons to reinstate cursive writing in schools:

Students with learning differences such as dyslexia greatly benefit from learning cursive. Cursive letters such as “b and d” are different from manuscript, therefore easier to decipher. 

Flowing letters connected together in cursive are often easier for young learners to write. There are fewer diagonals, a definite direction of the letters eliminating bottom to top formation, and not having to keep stopping and starting can be a very efficient form of written expression. This post on cursive letter families is helpful in breaking down letters into formation patterns.

The first stage to learning something new is being able to identify before being able to reproduce it. These upper and lowercase cursive alphabet worksheets for kids or other learners, are a great addition to your cursive curriculum. The OT Toolbox archives has an informative post on teaching cursive writing.

What better way to teach a new skill than to tie it to an adorable Valentine theme? Learners are more compliant when there is a motivating fun theme. While these uppercase and lowercase alphabet worksheets can be introduced around Valentine’s day, they are versatile enough to be used year round. YouTube has a great video highlighting the History (and importance) of Cursive Writing

How can I use these cursive alphabet upper and lowercase letter printable cards?

Incorporate this cursive letters printable into occupational therapy sessions to work on individualized goals no matter what level or skills the learner is working to address:

  • Ask learners to write the letters as they match them
  • Higher level learners can write down, or describe the directions to the game
  • Print these on colored paper for more visual appeal or contrast, color the pictures, or laminate the pages to make these more sturdy and reusable
  • Learners can explore other games they could make using these Valentine match cards (perhaps hiding the letters around the room and having learners run around collecting them, or creating a “memory” game out of these upper and lowercase writing cards)
  • Practice scissor skills by cutting these cards apart
  • Change the weight of the paper – heavier paper is easier to handle
  • Make these into tracing cards with or without laminating them.
  • Research and talk about the importance of cursive writing, and have a debate
  • Project onto a smartboard for a group task using a pointer to push the pieces together
  • Enlarge or shrink this task to change the degree of difficulty
  • Turn it into a gross motor task, sensory activity, following directions game, or combination of all of these
  • Use this task during more than one session by adding cursive practice, letter recognition, copying from a model, or putting letters together to make words.

Skilled OT Observations with this Cursive Activity

When working on this Valentine upper and lowercase cursive matching activity, there are several observations that can be  made: 

  • Can your learner scan the pages to identify the correct letters?  Are they recognizing what they are matching or merely matching shapes? Can they match items that are related but not the same (form constancy)?
  • How many items can your learner correctly match?
  • Can your learner correctly hold and manipulate the scissors? How much assistance do they need to grip the scissors and cut on the lines?
  • Can your student continue to hold the scissors while trying to manipulate the paper?
  • How many times do you need to repeat the directions so your learner can follow them?
  • How many reminders does your learner need while doing this activity?
  • Can they stay on task during this upper and lowercase cursive matching task?

As with this Cursive Alphabet Uppercase Lowercase Valentine Worksheet, or any of the worksheets and activities on the OT Toolbox, you can teach one or ten different skills while teaching them. Working on letter recognition? Skip the cutting and coloring section.  Focusing on visual perception? Don’t have students write the letters after matching the cards. Beginning cursive learners? Have a letter page example with all of the letters as a reference. 

You may decide you are focusing your treatment on task completion or compliance with a non preferred task. Therefore your observations would lean more toward behaviors and reactions, than written expression.

Make several observations while your learners are working on these cursive letter matching pages.  See how you might need to grade or modify the task for your next group of learners.  Decide what works, and what does not work using this set of cards. 

Use the other Valentine’s printables available on the OT Toolbox to create an impressive lesson plan.  Here is an entire Valentine Fine Motor Kit! 

Whether you are searching for Valentines Slide Decks, posts highlighting Valentines Day ideas, or anything you want to build into your lesson plan, type your ideas into the search bar and tons of activities, posts, free printables, and kits will be available to you. 

Whenever you get the urge to jump on the bandwagon to eliminate cursive, just take a look at the handwritten notes from your grandmother, or other elderly people.  It is simply beautiful penmanship and should not be lost in favor of typing.

Cursive – it’s more than just a signature!

Free Upper Case and Lowercase Cursive Letters Printable

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FREE Valentine’s Day Cursive Letters Printable

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    Victoria Wood, OTR/L

    Victoria Wood, OTR/L is a contributor to The OT Toolbox and has been providing Occupational Therapy treatment in pediatrics for more than 25 years. She has practiced in hospital settings (inpatient, outpatient, NICU, PICU), school systems, and outpatient clinics in several states. She has treated hundreds of children with various sensory processing dysfunction in the areas of behavior, gross/fine motor skills, social skills and self-care. Ms. Wood has also been a featured speaker at seminars, webinars, and school staff development training. She is the author of Seeing your Home and Community with Sensory Eyes.

    Cursive Handwriting Letter Families

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    cursive letter families

    This post is a comprehensive resource on cursive handwriting letter families. Did you know that teaching cursive letters in a series of similar letters can be helpful for kids who are just learning letter formation? Using groups of letters that are formed similarly makes them a letter family. So, when we use the motor plan required to form a cursive letter, we can help learners retain and use that cursive formation appropriately for legible handwriting when completing cursive writing. Let’s break down cursive letter families!

    What are Letter Families

    Letter families are related letters. Just like a family, letter families contain similar traits. These similarities might include the same starting point when forming a letter, similar lines that make up the letter, or other traits that make the letters easy to group. Letter families might include these traits:

    • Same starting point
    • Same initial pencil movement
    • Same connecting lines or ending pencil strokes
    • Similar movements within the letter, like bumps, slants, re-trace, etc.

    When it comes to cursive letter families, this is a powerful teaching technique because we can break down the task of learning all uppercase and lower case cursive letters as we break down the task into chunks.

    Teaching cursive letters in chunks can be helpful because many cursive letters are similar in formation either in starting lines or with components. Consider a lower case cursive letter “i”. The way the beginning line curves up and stops is similar to the start of a lower case cursive letter “t”.  

    Letters like m, n, v, x, y, and z all start with a bump curve that starts from the baseline and curves up in an arch toward the middle line. 

    Letters like e, l, h, b, f, and k all start with a loop.   

    There are similarities in upper and lowercase cursive letters that indicate a need to teach letters in an order that takes cursive letter families into account.

    Why use letter families to teach cursive

    Cursive families and grouping letters by lines is an occupational therapy strategy that uses motor planning, muscle memory, and fine motor development to impact legible cursive writing.

    Tricks to help with teaching cursive handwriting can make all the difference when it comes to carryover and legibility. Below, you will find information about teaching cursive handwriting and letters that are similar and should be taught together in groups for ease of learning.

    You’ll discover more about cursive letter families below as well as more cursive writing strategies and tools here and in the How to Teach Cursive Writing series.

    We explain more information on grouping letters according to their pencil strokes in our post on Handwriting Without Tears letter order because the HWT program sorts letters into teaching groups like we are talking about here.

    You can find all of the tips and strategies for teaching cursive handwriting under the handwriting tab up above.

    Cursive letters fit into families because there are similarities in how letters are formed that can help kids learn to write in cursive.

     

     
     

    Lowercase Cursive Letter Families

    Lowercase cursive handwriting letter families are broken down by the writing strokes that start the letter. We’ve broken these letter groups into these types of starting strokes:
    1. Wave Letters
    2. Spike Letters
    3. Loop Letters
    4. Bump Letters
    5. Slant Letters
    6. Tow Truck Letters (based on the ending strokes or connecting strokes)

    You can see that when we break cursive letters down into groups, it makes it easier for learners to learn and carryover the motor plan to form the letter because the letters that start similarly use the same small muscle movements.

    Wave Letter Family

    Wave letters are lowercase cursive letters that curve up from the baseline with a curve that follows the outside and left side of a circle. The curve traces back on itself to create a curve shape. Read here about specific strategies to teach Wave Letters.

    Wave letters include lowercase cursive: c, a, d, g, q, and o.

     

    Spike Letter Family 

    Spike Letters are are lowercase cursive letters that curve up from the baseline with an inverted curve that follows the underside and right side of a circle. The curve traces back on itself for the strait portion of the letter, but then pulls away to either continue with additional components of the letter or to connect to subsequent letters. 
     
    Spike letters include lowercase cursive: i, t, u, w, p, and j.
     

    Loop Letter Family

    Loop letters are lowercase cursive letters that begin with a loop from the baseline. These can be easy to learn at first : cursive e and cursive f are simple motor plans. But, the remaining loop letters contain re-traced lines, inverted lines that move back toward the middle line and then in the opposite direction (cursive k), and multi-loops (cursive f). 
     
    Loop letters include: e, l, h b, k, and f.
     

    Bump Letter Family

     
    Bump letters are lowercase cursive letters that start from the baseline with a low curve on a 45 degree angle that peaks with a curved “bump” at the middle line.
     
    Bump letters include: n, m, v, x, y, and z.
     

    Slant Letter Family

    Slant letters are lowercase cursive letters that start from the baseline and slant at a 45 degree angle without a curved portion at the direction change. 
     
    Slant letters include: s and r.
     
    This resource covers how to teach cursive s.
     

    Tow Truck Letter Family

    Tow truck letters use terminology from the Handwriting Without Tears program and refers to the way the letter connects to another letter.
     
    Another way to distinguish cursive letters even further is to identify tow truck letters. This term uses a verbal prompt from the Learning Without Tears handwriting program which identifies letters with a high connection point. The “tow truck letters” connect to subsequent letters in a word with a connector at the middle line rather than the baseline.
     
    Tow Truck Letters include: o, v, w, and b.
     

    Uppercase Cursive Letter Families

    Upper case cursive letters can be hard to learn. Why? Because uppercase letters are not often used, especially as often as their lowercase relatives. An uppercase K may not be used often and it is easy to forget which way to make the starting lines or the mid-loops. 
     
    We’ll break down uppercase cursive letters into groups, just like we did with the lowercase letters. 
     
    Uppercase cursive letter families are broken down by starting point.
     

    Right Curve Start Upper Case Cursive Letters

    Right-Start Letters are uppercase cursive letters that start at the top line with a counter clockwise (or right curve) motion from the top line down to the baseline. 
     
    Right Curve Start Letters include: A, C, O, Q, and E (Uppercase cursive letter E starts with a right curve to the middle line.)
     

    Rocker Start Upper Case Cursive Letters

    Rocker-Start uppercase cursive letters are those upper case letters that start with a small rocker motion to the top line.
     
    Rocker start letters include: B, R, P, and L. 
     

    Down Stroke Start Letters

    Down-Stroke upper case cursive letters are uppercase cursive letters that start at the top line and move down.
     
    Down stroke start letters include: D, T, F, U, Y, V, and W.
     

    Left Loop Start Letters

    Left-Loop start letters are uppercase cursive letters that begin with a small loop start at the top left side of the letter. 
     
    Left loop start letters include: H, K, M, N, X, and W.
     

    Slant Start Upper Case Cursive Letters

    Slant start cursive are uppercase cursive letters that start at the baseline and slant up to the top line at a 45 degree angle. 
     
    Slant start letters include: G and S.
     

    Left Curve Up Start Cursive Upper Case

    Left Curve Up start letters are uppercase cursive letters start at the baseline and curve up to the left side. They start of the opposite side than the rest of the upper case cursives. This can be a difficult start for some learners, especially if these letters are not used often.
     
    Left curve up start letters include: I and J.
     

    Other Upper Case Cursive

    Uppercase cursive letter Z doesn’t seem to fit into any of these categories! That is to say: all of these cursive letter starts depend on the font. Occupational therapy practitioners tend to teach simple writing strokes to reduce the motor plan and to improve carryover. So, it is possible to group Z into another group, including the Slant Start Letters or Left Loop Start Letters.

     

     
     

    What order to teach cursive Letter families?

    When it comes down to it, having a specific order of uppercase and lowercase cursive letters doesn’t matter hugely. It is much more important to teach letters in their family chunks for ease. That being said, you do need to start somewhere when it comes to starting to teach cursive letters. So where to begin?

    It’s also a great idea to teach letters that are similar in look or formation to their printed counterpart.  

    There are so many different cursive letter curriculum out there without a clear letter sequence so it’s truly up to the instructor. Consider the benefits of teaching cursive letters in their letter family clusters. Here is one list of recommended cursive letter order for ease of instruction.    

    For explicit instruction, use the suggested order to teach cursive letters listed on this handout.

    How to Teach Cursive Families

    Teach Cursive Letter Families with Picture Frames!

    This post contains affiliate links.


    Use the cursive letter order descriptions to create family photos like we did. Use these in the classroom to teach kids about how the letters are related in formation. We used just a few items to create family photos for cursive letters:

    To make teaching cursive with a cursive letter family fun and “stick” try this memorable activity.

    Cut the cardstock to fit the frames. Add a small piece of tape to keep the cardstock in place. Write the groups of cursive letters on the cardstock. Fit the paper into the frames.

    Use these frames to teach common cursive letter families. Place them on desks or tables in the classroom or home and refer to cursive families during instruction.

    Cursive letters fit into families because there are similarities in how letters are formed that can help kids learn to write in cursive.

      Need help with the underlying skills needed for handwriting? Start here on our Handwriting resources page.  

    The Handwriting Book is a comprehensive resource created by experienced pediatric OTs and PTs.

    The Handwriting Book covers everything you need to know about handwriting, guided by development and focused on function. This digital resource is is the ultimate resource for tips, strategies, suggestions, and information to support handwriting development in kids.

    The Handwriting Book breaks down the functional skill of handwriting into developmental areas. These include developmental progression of pre-writing strokes, fine motor skills, gross motor development, sensory considerations, and visual perceptual skills. Each section includes strategies and tips to improve these underlying areas.

    • Strategies to address letter and number formation and reversals
    • Ideas for combining handwriting and play
    • Activities to practice handwriting skills at home
    • Tips and strategies for the reluctant writer
    • Tips to improve pencil grip
    • Tips for sizing, spacing, and alignment with overall improved legibility

    Click here to grab your copy of The Handwriting Book today.

    Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

    Cursive Writing for Beginners

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    We have a lot of cursive writing posts here on The OT Toolbox. Check out the search bar and you’ll see tips for how to teach cursive writing, help with cursive writing speed, and even cursive letter order. There is a lot that goes into teaching cursive writing to kids. It doesn’t need to be complicated, though. Here, you will find a plan starting at the beginning when teaching cursive. This is everything you need to know about cursive writing for beginners.

    Use these tips to teach cursive when working on cursive writing for beginners.

    Cursive Writing- Start at the Beginning

    Think about when kids start to learn cursive. They might be in second o third grade, or between 7 and 8 years old. Or, depending on the school and the cursive writing curriculum, there may or may not even be a plan in place to teach cursive writing.

    Some teachers have to come up with cursive lesson plans on their own. Others follow a cursive curriculum such as Zabner-Browser, Handwriting without Tears, or D’Nealian. Sometimes, the school district allows a set number of weeks for cursive writing and if a child misses days during that time period, they miss the boat on learning a certain letter in cursive formation . In most cases, cursive is taught once and not covered again. Kids can write their spelling words in cursive or complete journals entries in cursive, but they are not required to do so. Usually, that is the only practice a student gets in fine tuning their cursive handwriting. Letter formation might get checked, but not graded for accuracy and the child doesn’t have the chance to go back and correct letter formation errors. They may not even notice a teacher’s marks on a letter formation mistake.

    How to start teaching cursive

    We’ve shared a lot of strategies to teach cursive here on The OT Toolbox. When getting started with cursive writing for beginners, try some of these first steps to cursive writing success:

    Start with these pre-cursive activities. Start with pre-cursive lines and use the activities in this post to work on curves, lines, bumps, waves, and re-trace lines.

    Grab these cursive flashcards to work on multisensory writing strategies when practicing cursive letter formation.

    Use this gross motor warm-up before starting a cursive letter lesson. It’s a nice way to get the whole class geared up and ready to write.

    Be sure to start with posture and paper positioning when beginning cursive lessons.

    Use these tips to teach cursive s.

    Try a cursive lines worksheet. Use the free worksheet below.

    free cursive writing worksheet is great for teaching cursive to beginners.

    Cursive Writing Worksheet

    Use this free cursive lines worksheet to work on pencil control, cursive lines, and motor planning needed for connecting letters, re-tracing over cursive letters, and gaining motor control needed for smooth writing lines.

    Enter your email below to access your free cursive writing worksheet.

    Free Cursive Lines Worksheet

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      Print off the cursive writing worksheet and trace the lines in a variety of ways to practice smooth lines, re-trace, bumps, and curves. Try some of these cursive worksheet ideas:

      • Try Rainbow writing with colored pencils.
      • Slide the cursive worksheet into a page protector. Use dry erase markers.
      • Color Mixing Writing– Use markers to mix colors while working on line formation and re-trace in cursive.
      • Tape the worksheet to a wall and get the gross motor action involved.
      • Pin the worksheet to a bulletin board. Trace the lines with a highlighter, pencil, pen, or marker to gain sensory feedback from the bulletin board.
      • Sandpaper Writing Trick– Place the cursive worksheet over a sheet of sandpaper. Trace the lines with a pencil to gain proprioceptive feedback when writing the cursive strokes. The sandpaper can be used with markers or a pen as well.

      How to Teach Tow Rope Cursive Letter Connection

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      learn cursive tow rope letters

      In this blog post, we’re covering how to teach cursive letter connections for the tow rope letters, or those cursive letters that connect at the middle line. Most letters connect to the next letter on the baseline, but these set of letters throw things off a bit! Let’s explore this set of cursive letters.

      Tow Truck Letters

      When teaching cursive writing, kids can recognize that cursive letters come in groups or letter families. These cursive letter families are how we can teach kids to write letters in chunks of similar pencil strokes.

      Teaching cursive letters in this manner can be a helpful strategy for allowing kids success when learning the pencil strokes needed for forming cursive letters.  Below, you’ll find a subcategory of cursive letter groups: How to write cursive tow rope letters!

      As we previously discussed, a specific order a teaching cursive letters doesn’t matter as much is teaching a group of letter families together in a block. When students learn cursive letters it is beneficial to learn the pencil strokes associated with cursive letter families.

      We have covered all of the different cursive letter families including wave letters letters loop letters bump letters. There is a subgroup of cursive letter families that have a slightly different connecting pattern to them. These are the cursive tow rope letters.

       

      Use these tricks and strategies to to teach cursive letters that have a tow rope connection, this includes teaching lowercase cursive letters b, o, v, w.

       

      How to Teach Tow Rope Cursive Letter Connection

       
       
      If you’ve been following The OT Toolbox over the last month,
      then you know that there’s been quite a lot of information related to cursive
      handwriting. We’ve talked about letter formation, cursive slant, cursive writing speed and rhythm, and even how pencil control is needed in cursive
      handwriting.
       
      Today, we’re finishing up with a last cursive handwriting
      post in the series. Below you’ll find information on forming cursive letters
      that contain a “tow rope” connector to the letter following them.
       
      Tow Rope letters are those lowercase cursive letters that
      connect to the next letter using a horizontal line at the middle line. Most
      cursive letters connect with a curved line from the baseline.
       
      Tow Rope letters connect horizontally and can change formation of the letters that they connect
      to.
       

      Tow Rope Letters include cursive letters b, o, v, and w.

       
       

      How to teach cursive Tow Rope Letters

       
      Teaching the cursive tow rope letters is not much different
      than teaching other letters of the alphabet. 
       
      Use of a cursive writing plan can help, as can kinesthetic methods and multi-sensory strategies. Using tools such as sand paper or writing trays can bring a textural aspect to learning these cursive tow rope letters.
       
      You can read more about teaching each individual letter as they were broken down into cursive letter families:
       
       
      Use these tricks and strategies to to teach cursive letters that have a tow rope connection, this includes teaching lowercase cursive letters b, o, v, w.

       

       

       


      Trick for teaching cursive letters with a tow rope connection

       
      Teaching kids about the visual of a tow rope that connects a tow truck to it’s haul or a boat to a raft  can be helpful in teaching children to write cursive letters with proper connection between these letters and the letter they connect.
       
      If the tow rope sags or dips down, it can affect how the letters appear and result in inaccuracies.
       
      To show kids how to recognize and recall use of tow rope connections, draw a small truck at the end of the tow rope connecting lines.
       

      Practice cursive letter connections for tow rope letters

       
      Practice the combinations of cursive letters that contain
      tow rope letters:
      • ba, be, bi, bl, bo, and by
      • vva, ve, vi, vo, and vy
      • wa, we, wi, wo, and wy
      • Letter o can be practiced with every letter of the alphabet as a vowel letter.
       
       
       
      Try these creative ways to practice cursive writing to help kids learn to write cursive letters and write legibly.Creative ways for kids to work on cursive writing including letter formation.

       

       
      Creative Ways to Practice Cursive Writing
       
      MORE Ways to Practice Cursive Writing
       

      Use the verbal cues associated with each letters cursive family to formation of these letters. 

      However pencil stroke exercises can be influential in behind and horizontal line to connect. Additionally practice with commonly connecting letters can make a big impact.

      In this way students with practice tow rope letters that connect to other letters as a group. These letter blends commonly and within minutes.

      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive b

      Teach students to practice be connected to letters that may occur within words. This includes ba, be, bo, bl, br, by.

      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive o

      Students can practice the commonly connected letters used in words as the letter connects to the second letter. As a vowel, the letter o may connect to every letter of the alphabet.

      Because of this, students who are learning cursive can practice the formation of o to the individual pencil strokes that are part of different cursive families. That is, practice o connected to the bump of bump letters, the o connected to the wave that occurs wit wave family letters, the o connected to the spike of tree letters, the o connected to the bump of bump letters, and o as an ending letter.

      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive w

      Students can practice the connection of lowercase cursive w to vowel and some consonant letters:

      Wa, we, wi, wh, wr, wl, wm, wn, wy.

      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive v

      Students can practice the connection of lowercase cursive v to vowels and commonly used consonant letter combinations. This includes: va, ve, vi, vo, vr, and vy.

      Use strategies such as creative cursive to practice these letter combinations in innovative manners to prevent boredom.

      Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.

      Cursive Slime

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      Adding movement and sensory input to teaching letters and handwriting is key for learning the motor plan, identifying letters, and carryover of learned skills. 

      This cursive slime activity is a fun way to encourage letter formation, letter identification, and letter matching using slime as a fine motor and sensory medium to make the activity fun and memorable. 


      This cursive slime activity adds a proprioceptive, tactile, and movement component to learning the parts of cursive letters. Kids can focus on the starting pencil lines that make up groups of letters known as cursive letter families.
      Use cursive beads to work on cursive letter identification using cursive slime as a sensory tool and tactile sensory play.



      Cursive Slime Activity


      There is a lot more information on cursive letter families as well as more cursive writing strategies and tools here and in the How to Teach Cursive Writing series that we have on The OT Toolbox this month.

      Grab more cursive writing tips and strategies for teaching cursive handwriting under the cursive writing tab up above.

      For this cursive slime activity, you will first need a batch of slime. We love to make non-borax slime for safety reasons.

      Our favorite recipe (and my YouTube loving kids are HUGE fans of trying all.the.recipes) is this contact solution and baking soda slime recipe. It’s a quick slime recipe that pulls together easily and one that older kids can make on their own.

      Then, add cursive letter beads.


      Use cursive beads to work on cursive letter identification using cursive slime as a sensory tool and tactile sensory play.

      Now, it’s time to play! Kids can play with this cursive slime activity in so many ways.

      Look for letters according to cursive letter family, match cursive letters, and sort.

      Pull the beads out of the slime and press them back in again. What a workout for the hands.

      Here are a few more slime or sensory dough recipes that would be perfect for hiding and pulling out the cursive letter beads:


      How to make crayon play dough Harold and the Purple Crayon activity Crayon Floam Dough recipe Metallic sparkly crayon play dough

      How to Make Crayon Play Dough

      Pair crayon play dough with Harold and the Purple Crayon book

      Use broken crayons to make crayon floam dough

      Celebrate the sparkle with gold, sliver, and bronze metallic crayon play dough

      3 Ingredient Kinetic Sand Dough
      Fizzy Soda Dough
      Almond scented salt dough
      orange zest salt dough
      gingerbread salt dough
      Use cursive beads to work on cursive letter identification using cursive slime as a sensory tool and tactile sensory play.

      Cursive Activity Beads

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      cursive letter activity

      Coming up with creative activities that can help kids learn to identify and write cursive letters can be fun. This cursive activity uses beads as a tool for forming letters, copying cursive letters, and learning to identify cursive letters. The best thing about these cursive activity beads is that they can be used in a variety of ways to help kids learn and carryover cursive writing skills.

      You can read more about cursive letter families below as well as more cursive writing strategies and tools here and in the How to Teach Cursive Writing series that we have on The OT Toolbox this month.

      You can find all of the tips and strategies for teaching cursive handwriting under the cursive writing tab up above.

       
      Use these cursive activity beads to help kids learn cursive letters, learn to write cursive letters, practice cursive formation and cursive letter identification, and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.

      Cursive Activity Beads

      Affiliate links are included in this post.
       
      You’ll need just a few materials to make your own set of cursive activity beads:
       
      Wooded Beads (Ours came from www.craftprojectideas.com)
      Permanent Marker
       
      Use these cursive activity beads to help kids learn cursive letters, learn to write cursive letters, practice cursive formation and cursive letter identification, and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
       
      It’s very easy to create these beads for using in cursive writing activities. Simply use the permanent marker and write letters on the sides of the beads. The flat side of the wooden beads makes it easy to write a small cursive letter. The surface “holds” the permanent marker’s ink nicely so it doesn’t smear. 
       
      We wrote the cursive letters on the beads according to cursive families. This way, cursive letters of the same cursive letter family were on the same bead. It’s a fun way to help kids learn parts of cursive letters and cursive letter families…to in the end help with carryover of cursive skills. 
       
      Use these cursive activity beads to help kids learn cursive letters, learn to write cursive letters, practice cursive formation and cursive letter identification, and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.

      Cursive Letter Identification Activities

       
      Use the cursive activity beads to help kids learn and practice cursive letters in many ways:
       
      Use tweezers to pick up and identify cursive letters.
      Play with the beads in a sensory bin.
      Thread the beads onto feathers to sort by cursive letter family or to spell words. 
      Add beads to a pipe cleaner.
      Match cursive letter families by threading all of the beads with the same cursive letter family on the same pipe cleaner. 
      Add them to a letter sensory bottle and ask students to scan for each letter of the alphabet.
      Press them into play dough and then find them again.
      Thread the beads onto dry spaghetti noodles to sort by cursive letter family or to spell words. 
      Spell sight words or spelling words by threading the beads on a string.
      Spell sight words or spelling words by pressing the beads into play dough.
      Add them to slime.
      Press them into moldable eraser material. 
      Use these cursive activity beads to help kids learn cursive letters, learn to write cursive letters, practice cursive formation and cursive letter identification, and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.

      Here are more letter identification activities that can be used to work on cursive letter identification:

      Color & Letter Sticker Match | Name Building Sensory Soup | Sensory Letter Play
      Letter Identification Bin | Upper & Lower Case Letter Match 

      The Secret to Cursive Legibility is…

      by
      When it comes to handwriting, legibility is a big issue. Students can work on letter formation, speed, copying skills, pencil pressure, and other components of handwriting…but there is one focus that can make all the difference in cursive legibility: letter size! Letter size is a huge area to address if you are concerned with cursive legibility and functional handwriting.


      For printed handwriting, size is a big concern and a helpful area to address to boost handwriting legibility but the biggest way to immediately make a difference in legibility to to address spacing between words. When it comes to cursive writing, that key area is letter size.

      This post is part of our 31 day series on teaching cursive. You’ll want to check out the How to Teach Cursive Writing page where you can find all of the posts in this series. 

      For more ways to address the underlying skills needed for handwriting, check out the handwriting drop-down tab at the top of this site.

      Use color-coded visual guides to help kids to work on handwriting letter size tricks to help kids with cursive legibility and consistent cursive handwriting.

      Cursive Legibility and Handwriting Letter Size


      With cursive handwriting, the natural spacing that occurs with cursive letter connectors help to group words together. Addressing size will help with consistency of letter formation and overall look of cursive writing. 

      A smaller letter size is essential for increased speed that is needed for functional use of cursive as a writing form. 

      When some tall letters are hitting the top line and others are hitting at the midline, overall legibility suffers. When some small letters hit the top line, the letters can look like a different letter (A cursive e that is formed so it hits the top line will look like a cursive l).

      Handwriting Letter Size Activity

      Try this easy activity to address consistency of handwriting letter size and cursive legibility. 

      You’ll need just a couple of materials for this letter size activity:
      Affiliate links are included.

      Cut each colored cardstock into small index card-sized pieces. Use these as starting and stopping guides for cursive handwriting. 

      The green cardstock can be the guide for a starting point for cursive letters. For some kids, knowing to start on the baseline is a big part of letter formation and cursive legibility.

      For other kids, handwriting letter size is limited by the various sizes of cursive letters. For these kids, a visual guide of where to pause and re-trace or curve over to complete the cursive letter can really help with letter formation and cursive legibility.

      Use the red cardstock to guide the top point of letters. 

      The visual guide can be used effectively when practicing a series of cursive letters such as a line of cursive letter b‘s. Simply hold the guide at the top line as a visual cue to stop at the top writing line. 

      The visual cue cards can be used as a visual self-check after writing a word.

      Use color-coded visual guides to help kids to work on handwriting letter size tricks to help kids with cursive legibility and consistent cursive handwriting.

      Ruler Trick for Cursive Letter Size

      Another trick to help with consistent cursive letter size is to use the ruler trick. Use a wooden ruler as a visual guide that can be kept in a desk or binder. Use a red marker to color the edge of a wooden ruler. 

      Color the edge of a ruler to work on handwriting letter size tricks to help kids with cursive legibility and consistent cursive handwriting.

      The ruler can then be used to guide or self-check letter height.

      Looking for more ways to make cursive handwriting consistent and legible? Try these ideas:

      Use these handwriting letter size tricks to help kids with cursive legibility and consistent cursive handwriting.

      Teach Cursive Tree Letters

      by

      Here on The OT Toolbox, we’ve been sharing lots of ideas on how to teach cursive writing. Today, you’ll find creative activities and tips for teaching cursive letter formation of tree letters. Cursive tree letters are those ones that start with a line up followed by a traced line back down. Lowercase cursive letters i, j, p, t, u, and w  are tree letters. This cursive letter family is a group of cursive letters that are formed with similar pencil strokes.



      Breaking letters down into cursive families can help students learn cursive letter formation. Below, you will find information on how to teach cursive letter formation of “tree letters”.


      Check out how each letter of the alphabet is broken down into chunks of similar letters in this Facebook video.

      Try this cursive handwriting activity to help kids learn to write in cursive, using an image of a tree for cursive letters i, j, t, u, and w.


      Teach cursive letter formation “tree” letters

      This post is part of our 31 day series on teaching cursive. You’ll want to check out the How to Teach Cursive Writing page where you can find all of the posts in this series. 

      For more ways to address the underlying skills needed for handwriting, check out the handwriting drop-down tab at the top of this site.

      Cursive Letter Formation of “Tree” Letters


      When instructing students in forming these letters, start by outlining a cursive letter lesson plan of activities. You can read more about cursive letter lesson plans here.


      Students can start out with learning The Tree Letters, start by practicing a series of upward curves across a line of paper. This can look like a string of cursive letter t‘s joined together. When practicing the curve of the cursive letter t motions in a strand across a page, don’t worry about the crossing of the t’s. Instead, set awareness on re-trace and the start/stop point of each curve.
       
      Most important is the re-trace portion. Instruct students to draw the lines with proper re-trace as they trace back over the lines to create another line up and down. 
      When beginning with cursive instruction, students should concentrate on an upward curve from the base line to the middle line or top line of the paper. This is the “tree” of a tree trunk visual and is the re-occuring stroke in the letters i, j, p, t, u, and w. 
       

      Rainbow Writing Cursive Letter Tree Letters Activity

       
      One activity that can practice the formation needed for tree letters is to practice drawing rainbows. Using a variety of colored pencils or markers, ask students to draw a small rainbow that starts at the baseline and peaks at the middle line. They can then trace back over that rainbow with other colors. 
       
      Then, ask students to create a series of rainbows across the line of paper using one color. They can then draw over that series of rainbow bumps with each colored pencil or marker. 
       
      As students trace over the previous color, ask them to keep their colored pencil or marker on the lines and to continue with re-trace back down to the baseline and back up again. 
       
      Try this cursive handwriting activity to help kids learn to write in cursive, using an image of a tree for cursive letters i, j, t, u, and w.
       

      Activities for Teaching Cursive Letter Tree Letters

      Use short phrases to instruct cursive formation. Phrases like “Pause”, “Stop”, “Trace back”, “Curve up”, “Curve Down”, and “Swing away to connect” can help. 
       


      The verbal prompts should involve starting and stopping points such as “Start at the baseline”, “stop at the middle line”, or “Stop at the top line”. Line names should remain consistent with names used by the student in learning printed handwriting. Bottom Line, Middle Line, and Top Line are simple cues that typically work well.

       

       


      Try this tree themed activity to teach cursive letter tree letters:


      1.) Students learning the Tree Letters will benefit from a visual image of a a series of curved lines up and back down with a visual of a tree’s branches at the top. The tree’s trunk should trace back down over it’s first line to create a single trunk line. Use a green stamp to create a small leaf top on a letter t.
      Try this with a series of letter t’s and the other Tree Letters. Be sure to ask students to copy only 2-3 letters at a time while working on formation so that poor habits are not established.


       

       


      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive i



      Use the following verbal prompts to teach lowercase cursive letter i:
       
      Start at the baseline. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Then swing away to connect. Go back and add the dot.
       
      Instruct students to trace over the lines and create a small set of “roots” at the bottom of the tree trunk.
       
      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive t
      Use the following verbal prompts to teach lowercase cursive letter t:
       


      Start at the baseline. Curve up to the top line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Then swing away to connect. Go back and add the crossline.

       

      Instruct students to trace over the lines and create a small set of “roots” at the bottom of the tree trunk of the t. 
       

      Note about letter t- Older styles of cursive handwriting used a height of letter t that was taller than the middle line yet shorter than the top line. For ease and consistency with children, a height that reaches the top line can be most efficient. 

      The tree letters have different sizes which is important for legibility. A cursive t and a cursive i can take on similar appearances when the size awareness is take out. Teaching learners about letter size and the tall letters are tall while the short letters are short. Use this tall and short worksheet to put these concepts into play.

       
      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive p
       
      Use the following verbal prompts to teach lowercase cursive letter p:

      Start at the baseline. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Pass the baseline. Pause. Trace back up the tree trunk to the middle line. Curve around in a circle. Stop at the tree trunk near the baseline. Then swing away to connect. 


      Note about cursive letter p- This letter has a lot of re-trace. It also has a point where the pencil needs to stop without crossing over another line. This closure point can be a difficult precision point for some students. Work on re-trace and motor control for closure points in multi-sensory activities such as with sandpaper or in writing trays. 
       
      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive u
       



      Use the following verbal prompts to teach lowercase cursive letter u:


       


      Start at the baseline. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Then swing away to create a second tree. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Swing away to connect.

       

       
      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive w
       



      Use the following verbal prompts to teach lowercase cursive letter w:


      Start at the baseline. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Then swing away to create a second tree. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Then swing away to create a third tree. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. Swing away to connect.


      How to Teach Lowercase Cursive j


       


       
      Use the following verbal prompts to teach lowercase cursive letter j:
       
      Start at the baseline. Curve up to the middle line. Pause. Trace back down the tree trunk. pass the baseline and loop to the left. Swing up to the baseline and away to connect. 


       

       



      A few tips for teaching tree letters

       

       



      It would be very difficult to teach cursive handwriting only by verbal instruction. Carryover and accuracy would suffer!


      A visual component and slow teaching strategies are very important. Try these tips to help with learning cursive bump letters.

       

       
      Use large motor movements when starting out with cursive instruction. 
       
      Teach each letter individually and for short periods of time each day.
       
      Practice cursive letters in multiple sensory experiences, including shaving cream on desks, writing trays, in goop, with play dough or slime, etc.
       
      Practice near copy work using a visual cue like these free cursive letter flashcards.
       
      Practice each letter in a group focusing on one letter at a time. When a new letter is introduced, continue with previously learned letters. 
       
       
      Want to teach other cursive letter families? 
      Here is information on how to teach wave letters (c, a, d, g, q).
      Try these ideas to teach bump letters (m, n, v, x, y, z).

      Try this cursive handwriting activity to help kids learn to write in cursive, using an image of a tree for cursive letters i, j, t, u, and w.
       

      More Cursive Handwriting Tools and Resources:

      Affiliate links are included.





       
      Creative Cursive Writing Practice
       


      Textured Cursive Lines

       

       
      Cursive Lines Art
      Try these cursive writing tools to help with forming letters:
      Affiliate links are included.
       
      Cursive Writing Wizard is a free app on Amazon that allows students to trace letters and words. The app has stickers and animations as well as games that promote learning of cursive letters and connecting lines.
      Cursive Handwriting Workbook is a workbook for kids in elementary grades and focuses on  formation of cursive letters (upper and lower case) as well as words. 
       
      Teachers can use a laser pointer in the classroom to help students see parts of cursive letters as they instruct each part of the formation. This is helpful when teaching letters in cursive letter families.
       
       

      Cursive Letter Identification Activity

      by
      This fun handwriting activity is a fun way to practice cursive letter identification. Practicing cursive handwriting is one of the best strategies to helping kids carryover the skills that they’ve learned in cursive writing instruction. It makes sense, right? You practice more, you get better at it! But there is actually more to it.
      The more practice that a child gets when using creative and unique activities, the more they are challenged in a variety of multisensory experiences. These various sensory and tactile experience broaden the fabric of a child’s learning experience. 

      Cursive letter identification

      This cursive letter activity is one that does just that; It is a creative tool to encourage cursive writing experiences that the child can draw on down the road. It allows eye-hand coordination and the perceptual skills of scanning, figure ground, form constancy and others as well as fine motor motions and dexterity. 
       
      Use this cursive letter activity to help with cursive letter identification and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
       
      You can read more about cursive letter families below as well as more cursive writing strategies and tools here and in the How to Teach Cursive Writing series that we have on The OT Toolbox this month.
       
      You can find all of the tips and strategies for teaching cursive handwriting under the cursive writing tab up above.


       
      Cursive Handwriting Activity
       
      Use this handwriting activity to develop the ability to write, recall, and form cursive letters.
       
      There has been much research demonstrating the use of our hands in manipulation of tools and materials as playing a valuable role in development of cognition and learning. 
       
      This fine motor activity is one that meets those criteria while working on cursive handwriting.
       
      You’ll need just a few materials to create this cursive writing manipulative activity:
       
      Pipe cleaner
      Tape
      Straw
      Permanent marker
      Scissors
       
      Use this cursive letter activity to help with cursive letter identification and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
      To start this activity, cut the tape into small sections. Fold them over the straw as shown in the picture. Between each tape piece, cut the straw. You should now have “beads” of sorts. 
       
      Use the permanent marker to write cursive letters on one side of the tape. Flip the “bead” over and write the printed version of that letter on the other side. Ensure the letter is not written upside down.
       
      Next, slide the cursive letter pieces onto the pipe cleaner.
       
      Fold one end of the pipe cleaner into a ball to prevent the letters from sliding off. 
       
      Add the remaining cursive letters to the pipe cleaner.
       
      Fold the other end of the pipe cleaner to stop the letters from sliding off.
       
      Letters can be added to the pipe cleaner by cursive letter family or randomly.
      Use this cursive letter activity to help with cursive letter identification and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
       

      How to use this cursive writing tool:

       
      Ask students to turn over the letters. They can copy the cursive letter or form the cursive letter from memory as they view the printed letter.
       
      Use the letters as a model for writing the cursive letters in a sensory writing tray.
       
      Scatter the letters on a table and ask students to sort letters or order them in alphabetical order. Students can then thread the letter “beads” onto the pipe cleaner.
       
      Use this cursive letter activity to help with cursive letter identification and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
       
      Use these letters in a variety of ways like described in this DIY cursive letter bead activity. 
       
      Use this cursive letter activity to help with cursive letter identification and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
       
      Use this cursive letter activity to help with cursive letter identification and carryover of cursive handwriting skills.
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